Needlestick injuries are common to healthcare workers, especially those who perform injections and surgeries regularly. According to data collected from 63 hospitals by the United States Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), the overall rate of needlestick injuries is 27 per 100 occupied beds annually. While nurses had the most frequent exposures (49.7 percent), physicians ranked second (12.6 percent). Such injuries are probably also frequent occurrences for non-professionals who take up the duty to perform injections in the course of taking care of himself/herself or a loved one. To simplify the description, the present application will refer mainly to healthcare professionals, while it should be clear that the invention will benefit anyone who may be subjected to medically related needlestick injuries.
In addition to the initial physical wounds, needlestick injuries can have serious consequences because the person injured may be exposed to pathogens or other contaminants that may result in grave secondary health risks. Such pathogens include but are not limited to: hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The danger that suffering a needlestick would induce infection is real and threatening to the healthcare professionals.
Besides the possibility of physical injuries and infections, a healthcare professional endures significant psychological pressure when he/she is concerned with needlestick injuries. The prospect that he/she might be injured may impair the concentration that is needed for the competent performance of a medical procedure. In addition to the psychological toll before injury, a person suffered from needlestick injury will be forced to endure the agonizing period waiting for test results as to whether a life-altering infection has occurred. The overall mental distress that may be caused by needlestick injuries is impossible to be ignored.
Being careful with needle and syringe operation can only help the person conducting an injection, infusion, or surgery to a certain extent. Sometimes it is inevitable that a slip of hand or occasional absentmindedness will occur and severe risks will result from a seemingly insignificant needlestick wound. The current invention helps to prevent needlestick injuries to healthcare professionals by providing a medical tape that cannot be penetrated in normal medical care operations. Nurses, physicians, and other healthcare workers can wear the medical tape at the necessary positions or apply the tape to certain locations that may subject the healthcare worker to possible needlestick injuries. With the tape properly worn or applied, the healthcare worker no longer needs to continue worrying about injuries and can focus on the task at hand.
Previous efforts to prevent needlestick injuries focus on using universal precautions, engineering and work practice controls, and personal protective equipments. The safety devices generally involve modifications to the syringes and needles, such as the following patent and patent publication:
European Patent EP 2331167A1 discloses an anti-needlestick system comprising a housing assembly. The assembly has a body portion. The body portion has distal and proximal ends, a cylindrical extent, and upper and lower sections. The distal end has a first aperture. The proximal end has a second aperture. The upper section has a lower edge and the lower section has an upper edge. A pair of flexible hinge portions is provided. The upper ends are coupled to the upper section. The lower ends are coupled to the lower section. The hinge portions are adapted to allow movement between closed and open orientations. Handling elements are formed with the main body portion. The handling elements include an upwardly extending projection located on the upper section essentially coplanar with the distal end to facilitate one handed utilization of the system.
U.S. Patent Publication No. US20050267410A1 discloses a needlestick prevention device for an injection device (1) having a hollow needle (2) comprises a sheath having a first member (9) for attachment to the injection device (1) and a second member (10) slidable longitudinally relative to the first member (9) to expose or to cover the needle (2), and spring means (11) biasing the second member (10) to cover the needle (2). The first and second members (9, 10) have inter-engaging guide means (13) and locking means (14), including a first guide part (23) operative to allow free longitudinal sliding movement of the second member (10) relative to the first member (9), and a second guide part (24) operative on movement by manual relative rotation of the first and second members (9, 10) and following release of a force urging the second member (10) to expose the needle (2). The spring means (11) urges the second member (10) to cover the needle (2) and to operate the locking means (14) to retain the second member (10) covering the needle (2). This allows free movement of the second member (10) in the first guide part (23), allowing for filling of the syringe (1), but then automatic sheathing and locking when the user simply twists the second member (10) relative to the first (9).
These modifications to needles or syringes are generally expensive and relatively more difficult to use. Moreover, they may not be appropriate for the specific medical procedure that is required for a particular patient. A more “defensive” approach may reduce such concerns. The healthcare professional may wear certain protective device on his/her hand that does not operate the needle or syringe. The following two patents serve as examples for such approaches.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,953,751 discloses a needlestick resistant glove for surgical and other medical uses including a flexible and elastic web which fits the user's hand. In one embodiment the web is partly covered by custom-fitted curved plates. The flexible web areas between the plates comprise hemispherical or disk protrusions. In another embodiment, without plates, the protrusions on the web are disks and the areas between the disks are covered by other disks.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,815 discloses a glove for use by medical personnel which is adapted to help prevent accidental injuries when handling needles includes a first discrete layer of flexible material which has a pore size smaller than the diameter of a needle. The first layer forms a glove with an optional opening in the fingerprint area of the index finger stall and middle finger stall. The glove also includes a second discrete layer of flexible material which also has a pore size which is smaller than the diameter of a needle. This second layer is permanently attached to selected areas of the first layer. The selected areas comprise all of the thumb stall, and lateral sides of the index finger stall and middle finger stall. Preferably, the fingernail region is not covered by the second layer and backsides of the first distal joint portion of the index and middle finger stall are covered. A V-opening for the back side of the glove includes two distinct fastening devices. A third discrete layer of corrugated metal foil is optionally provided in the selected areas. Methods for sterilization and disinfecting are also provided.
These inventions, however, are rather limited in another perspective because they both have gloves as embodiments but a glove cannot be worn on any other part of the body. While the hand not operating the needle may be subjected to possible injuries, other parts of the body can also be needlesticked. The current invention addresses such inflexibility by introducing a needle-resistant medical tape that can be worn on any part of the body.
In conclusion, various implements are known in the art, but their structures are distinctively different from the current invention. Moreover, the prior art fails to address all of the problems solved by the invention described herein. One embodiment of this invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be described in more detail herein below.